South from Granada

Gerald Brennan proves here how knowledgeable he is about Spain.

Like many World War I veterans, British Gerald Brenan left the army depressed and dispirited. He moved to Spain and settled in Andalusia, specifically the small village of Yegen. Like many ex-pats, he wanted a simpler life.

He had a small house and humble furnishings but brought his entire library—2000 books—from England. Although he was isolated, Brenan had many visitors, including Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, and Hemingway. He died at 92 in Spain, of course. Brenan’s book is one of the first “ex-pat” Spanish memoirs and sets the standard for the genre.

Even though this book was written in the 1920s, any visitor to inland Spain today will feel like they have been transported into its pages. The situations he finds himself in, mixed with the characters and traditions he has to deal with, make you feel like his book could have been written yesterday.

The best travel writing is by people who have spent longer than five minutes in the country they are writing about and Brenan lived much of his life in Spain, writing about it and translating its literature. This book, written in the late 1950s, is about Andalusia before the tourist boom and combines vivid description with an exploration of the history and culture of the region and colourful accounts of his village life punctuated by amusing accounts of visits by his Bloomsbury friends. His attachment to his village and affection for its inhabitants make this one of the most attractive… show more.